


a lesson on friendship

by assortedwords



Series: one, ten, ten thousand (a3 week 2019) [2]
Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash, Relationship Study, Studying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-14 08:52:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17505461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/assortedwords/pseuds/assortedwords
Summary: Studying, daifuku, and the power of friendship. Disclaimer: Nobody actually learns any math. (Set post Mantou Fist.)A small figure sits at the dining table, notebooks and papers scattered all around its surface. Taichi frowns down at one textbook in particular, twirling his pencil in frustration and muttering nonstop. It sounds intense.But he also looks like he’s in trouble, and Juza’s older brother instinct creeps up again, the pull to help if he can. . He pads over to where Taichi is and peers over his shoulder at the open page.“Trigonometry?” Juza asks.Taichi almost falls out of his chair. “J-Juza-san?! I didn’t hear you come in?!”





	a lesson on friendship

The dorms are quietest around mid-afternoon, between the hustle of everyone setting out for the day and bustle of them returning. With so many people in one place, the silence is something of a rarity in MANKAI. It’s a good time to study, with lesser chance of someone barging with this to share or that to talk about.

Or, well, it would be if Juza could concentrate.

His stomach growls, and Juza sighs. This is as good a time as any to get food, he supposes; he’s barely made any progress in the two hours he’s been at this. The box of daifuku he’d ordered had arrived yesterday, he remembers. He probably has a few boxes left. Maybe the sugar will kick his brain into working.

The thought of daifuku cheers him up some, even if an embarrassed part of him tries to squash it down. He gets up from the desk, his chair making a scraping noise as he pushes it back and makes his way out of the room. It’s even quieter than Juza had thought, the usually busy lounge devoid of people.

Well, almost.

A small figure sits at the dining table, notebooks and papers scattered all around its surface. Taichi frowns down at one textbook in particular, twirling his pencil in frustration and muttering nonstop. It sounds intense.

But he also looks like he’s in trouble, and Juza’s older brother instinct creeps up again, the pull to help if he can. He pads over to where Taichi is and peers over his shoulder at the open page.

“Trigonometry?” Juza asks.

Taichi almost falls out of his chair. “J-Juza-san?! I didn’t hear you come in?!”

“Sorry,” Juza says, a familiar wave of guilt washing over him. It’s dumb—he feels bad, even if it’s not a big deal. _You scare people away_ , his mind likes to remind him, but Juza’s getting better at not listening to it.

“No problem!” Taichi returns with a beam. He tilts his head. “Did you come out here for something?”

Oh. “Right.” Juza says, sheepish. He’d almost forgotten why he was out here in the first place. “Hold on.” He disappears into the kitchen and finds the box of daifuku, bringing it back to where Taichi is. “I got hungry. We can share, if you want.”

“Really?” Taichi shines even more brightly, but his eyebrows knit the moment after. Both Taichi and Settsu have an ever-changing range of expressions, Juza notes. It’s colourful to watch, budding something in Juza that he’s not quite sure how to name. “It’s not kamekichi manjuu, is it?”

Juza flushes. “No, don’t worry.” He opens the box and offers it to Taichi, the daifuku perfectly made and soft even to look at. “Strawberry.”

“Oh! Thanks for the food!” Taichi grins, and pops one into his mouth. “Aaah, it’s delicious!”

Juza pops one into his mouth himself. The taste is as good as Taichi says (Juza hasn’t ordered a good six boxes of these for nothing), but for now he’s focused on something else, hovering over the table trying to get a better glimpse at Taichi’s textbook. It’s got a familiar publisher stamped on top, one Juza’s also spent three years looking at.

Well, that makes sense. “Yeah. Hey, you studying?”

…Why is he so awkward.

Luckily Taichi’s not deterred, tumbling into a tirade about a math test next week and how _he’s trying but still can’t get it_ and _I don’t want to go to remedial again!_ There’s a lot of sighing and wailing and passionate body language, and idly, Juza thinks Taichi must have been made to be on stage.

“And I’ve been trying for _hours_ ,” Taichi sighs finally, slumping in his seat. “I don’t get any of it!”

“I can help,” Juza says casually, like he hadn’t been spent the entirety of Taichi’s rant wondering when to interject with his offer. “If you like.” It’s all math he’s done before, being from the same school and everything. It’s only been a year. He probably hasn’t forgotten _everything_.

Taichi blinks up at him, and Juza swears he can see sparkles in the background like the mangas Muku likes to read. “Really?!”

"Yep," Juza says. “I’ve got my old notes around here somewhere too.” He'd planned to take them back home this summer, but maybe they can serve another use first.

"Let’s go look for them!" Taichi exclaims, and the sparkles grow brighter.

 

* * *

 

“Sorry for the intrusion!” Taichi sings as he steps inside Room 103. He makes himself at home immediately, heading for Juza’s side of the room and looking around.  “Is it okay if I put everything here?”

“Yeah, go ahead.” Juza nods, and Taichi dumps his stack of notebooks onto his desk (the mostly-intact box of daifuku balanced on top). Taichi’s presence seems to fit right into the room; Juza’s used to Settsu inviting him over and listening to the two of them gaming and yelling, Taichi pulling Juza into the conversation with a sunny smile.

But it’s rare for it to be just the two of them, outside of practice and outside of coincidence. It’s rare for Juza to invite anyone to hang out, really. He’s never really _had_ anyone to invite up until joining MANKAI, and it still takes him a few moments to remember he has friends nowadays.

What do you do with friends over?

“Where should we start looking?” Taichi asks, squinting around his desk. _Like a puppy sniffing something out_ , Juza thinks. “You keep your desk really neat, Juza-san.”

“Not…really,” Juza says. His desk is manageable enough, but not what his mother would call _neat_ , scattered bits of notes and a pen here and there. He supposes it’s better than Kumon’s room. “It’s just easier to find everything.”

“Cool as always…” Taichi murmurs, which Juza Does Not Understand but leaves be. The compliments have been around since the beginning days of Autumn Troupe, and Juza’s just sort of accepted it as something Taichi does. He takes a few steps to his bookcase and pulls out a notebook. Wait, that’s his old English notebook.

He stuffs it back in, and pulls at the one next to it.

Japanese lit. Stuffs it back in.

“Mood,” Taichi says sagely, and Juza, again, does not understand. But Taichi grinning at him makes him feel less awkward, and he’s grateful for it.

“Isn’t that something Kazunari-san says?” Juza asks. He pulls out one that looks especially worn around the edges, and just barely manages to keep the cover from falling off. Yep. Those are his math notes all right.

“Yeah!” Taichi says. “You say it when you relate to something!” He pounces on the notebook when Juza plops it down, flipping through the pages seemingly with no aim. “Uwa~”

“Trig’s probably near the back,” Juza says, reaching for the notebook too. His hand bumps into Taichi’s, and both of them jump.

“Ah—” Taichi reacts first, scooting back and giving Juza probably more space than he needs. “Go ahead, Juza-san!”

“Oh,” Juza manages, recovering. From that, he’s not sure. Only that Taichi’s hand had been warm against his skin, and there had been a nervous flutter in his chest where there hadn’t been before. “Okay.”

He flips a bit before he finds triangles (he’s half-convinced Misumi will pop out of nowhere, but he doesn’t), and Taichi helps him find the page with the exact exercise he’d been working on. “You even have each step written down!” Taichi crows as he looks down at the page, his eyes sparkling.

So the two of them settle down. Juza steals Settsu’s chair and sits next to Taichi, and they spread open Taichi’s notebooks (more organized, this time) and Taichi puts the box of daifuku carefully in front of them.

“For motivation!” he says, teasing. “Especially for you, Juza-san~.”

“Let’s just get started,” Juza grumbles. “This the one you stuck on?” He points to a half-finished problem on Taichi’s notebook, and they go from there.

 

* * *

 

Or, well. They _do,_ but they don’t get very far. Juza realizes he doesn’t remember _anything_ about high school math, so both of them wind up staring helplessly at the notebooks, seeing but not understanding.

Also, they polished off their motivation in ten minutes flat.

“Why do we have to use this formula here?!” Taichi whines, swallowing his last mouthful of strawberry. It’s approximately the fifth time he’s asked, and the fifth time Juza can only shrug his shoulders.

"Settsu would know more," Juza muses, staring down at the heap of numbers. It feels like an admission of defeat, but Juza knows when it’s time to give up and hand it over to someone who knows better. The diagrams in front of him are already giving him a headache.

"I tried yesterday, and didn't get anything he said," Taichi wails. "Ban-chan's too smart!"

Well, that was probably only part of the problem. Settsu didn’t really know what it was like to _not know,_ so it stood to reason that he wouldn’t know how to be patient with someone who didn’t. Besides, the circumstances were different; Taichi has ADHD, for one, and Settsu doesn’t. Juza imagines he would have gone way too fast and gotten irritated Taichi didn’t think like he did.

“Maybe we can ask Tsumugi-san later?” Juza suggests.

“We should,” Taichi sighs, closing his notebook with a dramatic _plap._ “Math sure is hard…”

“Sorry I couldn’t help,” Juza says guiltily. He’d taken up so much of Taichi’s time, and he hadn’t even managed to help.

“Not at all!” Taichi protests, sitting upright. “You gave me all the steps! I just need to figure out…why they’re like that…!”

He’s not _wrong_ , technically, but he’s not very convincing, either. “Mm,” Juza answers neutrally.

They fall into silence.

Well, there’s Taichi’s chance to leave, Juza supposes. He wouldn’t blame him, in all honesty. Juza knows he’s not the most fun to talk to, and he doesn’t have anything to teach him now, either, so—

“Hey, Juza-san,” Taichi says. He twirls his pencil, and when Juza turns, he meets Juza’s eyes with a considering look on his face. “Is it okay if I stay here?”

“What,” Juza says.

“Ah, aah, it’s fine if you don’t want me to!” Taichi says hurriedly. “It’s just, it’s less lonely doing homework with someone else, and you’re nice to be around, so I thought—”

“Taichi,” Juza interrupts. He tries to sound as non-threatening as he can, just in case he sets Taichi off again. _Nice to be around_ lingers in his head. “It’s okay. I just didn’t think you’d want to stay is all.”

Taichi blinks, looking genuinely confused. “Why not?”

Juza shrugs, a little helpless. _I’m scary. I never know what to say. It’s been two years, and I still don’t know how to be someone’s friend._ “People don’t tend to.”

With the raw truth laid in front of them, maybe this is the part where Taichi does something, barrels into another tirade Juza doesn’t understand about how cool he actually is. Juza doesn’t expect anything, really. It’s pathetic and pitiable, but it’s out there now. What Taichi makes of it is up to him.

But even so Juza’s caught off guard when Taichi smiles, sad, an expression Juza’s never seen on him before. “Oh. Mood.”

“Taichi,” Juza says, even more helplessly. The meme doesn’t help.

“It’s fine!” Taichi bounces back. Something tells Juza it is very much not fine, but Taichi turns his entire body so he faces Juza, serious. “But it’s not your fault, Juza-san.”

Juza stares at him.

“You’re kind and patient, and everyone here likes being with you.” Taichi swings his feet. “It’s okay if you don’t see that yet, though. We’ll still be here for you.”

It’s probably his turn to say something, Juza thinks, except his heart feels like it’s going to overflow, and his tongue’s tied in knots. _But what about you,_ he wants to say, remembering every time Taichi had saved all of them and turned around to say _I’m not enough_ in the same breath. _You have been, you have been all along. You shine like the sun and you don’t even realize._

Except that would be too embarrassing to say out loud, probably.

“…You’re the same,” Juza says instead, acknowledging Taichi’s words even if he doesn’t believe it just yet. “You shine. You’re better than you think.”

Taichi’s expression softens. “Well, maybe,” he allows. Juza supposes that’s an improvement. “Thanks, Juza-san.”

The silence from earlier returns, settling between the two of them. Juza finds he doesn’t mind this time.

“I’ll go get my other stuff?” Taichi offers, and Juza nods.

“Okay!” Taichi hums. He bounces up from his seat, returning to his normal self. “Wait for me, Juza-san!”

 _Of course_ , Juza starts to say, and thinks of something better. “I’ll go with you,” he offers, getting up from his seat too, leaving his books behind. “It won’t take long.”

It doesn’t take two people to grab a few books, but Taichi seems to get it, a small grin spreading over his face. It’s just the feeling of wanting to be around someone, wanting to be someone’s support. Being supported in return.

Maybe Juza’s been overthinking the whole friends thing.

“Sure!” Taichi says, and his smile grows wider.

**Author's Note:**

> [prompt](https://twitter.com/a3_week) || day 6: support (beta'd once again by [will](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurokeitos), who i honestly just owe my life to at this point)
> 
> i've cried oceans over banjuza and bantai (i'll post it soon! t's my fav out of the 3 i've written, give it a shot!), so i wanted to dig deeper into taijuza too! i didn't remember that juza actually talks about wanting to become someone who can believe in others and tell them [it's not their fault](https://yaycupcake.com/a3/index.php?title=Act_7/Episode_15) too until i'd almost finished the fic and now i'm crying in a puddle of my own tears. _(:3 」∠)_
> 
> taichi's picturesque N card is about him studying so he won't have to go to remedial classes and izumi finds him alone late at night studying still and that made me sad, so i guess i wanted to give him a fwend to go through it with him haha. it was originally just meant to be mindless studying fluff but SHRUGS
> 
> also ADHD taichi! my beta was like owo after i mentioned that he has a lot of trouble with school even if he studies, so ayyyy. thanks for reading, i hope you liked it!


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